Phantom Heat
by Linai
Summary: Beckett knowing about Heat Wave's cover art before it was publicly available was one thing, but the fact that she had been trying so hard to keep him from finding out about her collection meant that a story existed behind her having them. -Post Boom!-
1. It Was Strictly Professional Curiosity

**As much as I want to make this another "fix" to the finale, I feel like that concept has been beaten to death with a wooden baseball bat and since I've also already written one of those, I'm going to make this a standalone story. Like my previous story **_**Upsetting the Apple Cart**_**, this one started off as a one-shot but has gotten progressively longer than a one chapter read. However, this time I actually don't have as much fleshed out so I'll be counting on your comments to keep this story growing. **

**I may be editing this part as well. Something about the way this reads bugs me...**

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The keys to Beckett's new apartment jangled as she fumbled for the right key for the deadbolt. She still couldn't remember exactly which key belonged in which slot and the fact that she was exhausted didn't exactly help the situation either. Beckett let out a sigh of relief as she finally managed to find the key that fit into the lock on the doorknob. After an exceptionally long paperwork marathon, she was so ready for a hot bath and a great book to get lost in. However, as she walked through the door all hopes of a relaxing evening flew out the window.

Her living room was a mess. She eyed the twenty-odd boxes and shopping bags on her living room floor she had yet to unpack since she'd moved in and groaned at the monumental task ahead of her. After catching the psycho that seemed to idolize Nikki Heat and closing the case, Beckett had moved out of Castle's loft and into Lanie's apartment while she looked for a new place. She'd been strangely at home at his loft and it had scared Beckett enough to accept Lanie's offer and move in temporarily with her. It was a week since she'd found a place and left Lanie's, and yet somehow she still felt no inclination towards unpacking. It was almost as if she'd expected to be out of the apartment as soon as she'd gotten unpacked. According to her track record lately, she wasn't too far off from that assumption. Well... she had to do it sometime so better get this over with.

Half an hour later, Beckett's living room practically looked the same as it had when she started. It was hard to make any progress when she felt as listless and unmotivated as she did at the moment. She continued going through the motions for the remainder of the hour but stopped rearranging things when she came across a very familiar cardboard box. She picked it up and moved it over to her table before opening it to reveal her entire collection of Castle's novels.

They were spared the devastating effects of the explosion and ironically, it was thanks to Castle that they had. He had shown up uninvited at her door the day before the explosion with a bottle of wine in hand operating under the excuse that he was there to protect her. Beckett had called him out on it with her comment about his rapier wit, but she'd let him stay anyways, feeling marginally guilty over the fact that she had nearly blown his head off as she opened the door. She hadn't expected any visitors that night and was camped out on her couch coincidentally re-reading one of his novels.

Beckett had no idea what had come over her when she stopped to cover the book she was reading under a pile of case files, but she silently thanked whatever it was that possessed her to do so. It must have been a miracle that he hadn't noticed that half of her bookshelf was stuffed with his work. Her mortification at the thought of him discovering her secrets drowned the oh so tiny fuzzy feeling at the discovery behind the reason for his visit; that he'd come all the way to see that she was safe. When he excused himself to use the bathroom she seized the opportunity and quickly sprang into action, hastily stashing her books in the nearest cardboard box and stuffing it unceremoniously in her bedroom closet.

It turned out to be one of the best decisions Beckett made that night. The bedroom and closet doors had protected her secret treasure from the explosion and the resulting fires. She'd let out a subconscious sigh of relief when Esposito failed to mention the cardboard box tucked away in the corner of her closet when he'd reported on the condition of her bedroom.

Her reminiscing was abruptly cut short when Beckett heard a knock at the door. She'd had the foresight to find an apartment with a peephole, otherwise there would be _a lot_ of paperwork waiting for her at the precinct if she'd shot at the next person that showed up at her door like she almost had before. These days it was mostly Castle popping by, and as much as she wanted to shoot him in the face sometimes, if that actually happened this time she might actually be held liable for her actions. She made her way carefully to the door to look through the little hole roughly located at eye level. It was Castle. She wasn't remotely surprised as she flung open the door and her eyes fell to the wine bottle he was holding. She was getting deja vu all over again. And just like the last time, he didn't wait for an invitation before barging into her personal space bubble.

"What's up!"

She rolled her eyes at his informal greeting.

"I just stopped by to see how the unpacking was going." He looked over her shoulder as he said this. "Not so great huh?"

The only real difference between that last visit to her old apartment and this visit was that it hadn't occurred to her that during her nostalgia induced stupor, she'd pulled his books out and arranged them in piles on her living room floor. _Oh God_. Now every book he'd ever written was currently splayed all over her living room floor as if on display especially for him. Before she realized what she'd done Castle was already inside setting the wine bottle down on her coffee table. That's when he'd spotted the book she'd been flipping through the moment before he'd interrupted her. He was intrigued. A quick skim of the page had revealed some very familiar lines and his eyebrows raised as he picked up the book to scrutinize it further.

Beckett had just finished locking the door when she turned to find Castle grinning moronically at her. Her stomach flipped as she realized what she'd forgotten to do and her eyes widened as she watched him holding up the book she was in the middle of reading. Of all the books he could have picked up, it had to be the one that he'd actually _signed_. She ran at him and tried to swipe it from his hands but he held it away from her easily and kept dodging as she continued to make weak grabs at it. She knew she would never live it down if he found out about the autograph scrawled all over the inside cover so as a last ditch effort, she'd launched herself at him trying to tackle him to the ground. He clearly wasn't expecting it as he stumbled over another one of her many packing boxes, causing him to fall over backwards and into another pile of boxes.

She was trying very very hard not to smile, but the sight of Castle sprawled over collapsed boxes and toppled kitchenware proved to be too much for Beckett to keep quiet. She failed spectacularly as a bark of laughter escaped her lips, not even bothered by the fact that he'd probably increased the amount of work she needed to do now that half of her stuff littered the room. He looked up at her with a confused expression temporarily dazed and trying to grasp the situation he was currently in. He looked as if he wanted her to explain it to him, but he only seemed to encourage her laughter. If he hadn't been literally floored by her boxes, he would have been at the delicious sound of her laughter echoing through the relatively empty apartment.

However, before Castle could relish in her mirth any longer, his ego reared up and bitch-slapped him across the face. Beckett knowing about _Heat Wave_'s cover art before it was widely publicized was one thing, but the fact that she had been trying so hard to keep him from finding out about her little collection meant that a story existed behind her having them and there was no way he would let that go without some kind of explaination. Her laughter died instantly and a frustrated groan replaced it when he called her attention back to the book he was holding by dangling it in front of her in an enticing manner. She seemed to be in some kind of trace as she sat watching it as it swung rhythmically. He could see she trying to determine the best moment to strike.

"Hiding much?" He said in a sing-song voice.

Beckett scowled at him as she snatched the book he was holding and shoved it and all the other books back into the dark abyss of the cardboard box they came out of. She was too busy losing the battle with the blush threatening to steal across her face to respond to his verbal prodding.

"I know, I know... _Get out_, right?" Castle took her death glare as a yes. "I'm going, I'm going..." Being stunned at his willingness leave left her unable to think of anything clever to shoot back at him, she turned her attention to her couch instead. With a shrug Castle straightened himself out, made his way towards the door, undid the locks, and opened it. He paused for a moment as if contemplating something.

"You know, if you'd like me to sign the rest of your collection I'd be totally happy to." If she didn't look like it before, Beckett was certainly seething now as she squeezed the throw pillow she was holding menacingly imagining it was his neck instead. How did he know about that? He didn't even flip through any of the pages. _Unless_...

"Ryan and Esposito told you didn't they?"

"Nope." He didn't say another word as he waltzed down the hall and to the elevator before she could hurl the pillow at him.

She didn't believe him.

When the haze of her anger and embarrassment faded away, Beckett was left blinking in confusion as Castle left her sitting on the floor and waltzed down the hall. She'd never known Castle to leave her apartment willingly, let alone give up on teasing her so easily; especially this time since she'd been left so wide open. It reminded her briefly of the time he'd caught her flipping through _Heat Wave_ in a bathroom stall looking for the elusive page 105. But his departure that time had been to let her stew in her embarrassment... somehow she didn't think it was the case this time. Although, she wouldn't put it past him if he left to embarrass her further. Maybe he had meant to confuse her by doing so? He certainly seemed to love confusing her as much as possible. _Augh! _She couldn't figure out what he was up to and it annoyed her immensely. In a fit of frustration, Beckett decided she'd had enough of anything remotely related to Richard Castle for the day so she stood up and shoved the box of books into a dark corner of her living room, slammed her apartment door shut, then stalked off to her bedroom.

She didn't realize that this incident was going to be just the beginning in his rash of strange behavior.

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**TBC**


	2. See You in the Fall

**THE FIRST CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH AN EXTRA PARAGRAPH. It may be necessary to read it to understand some things. It didn't fit well with this chapter so sorry about that...  
**

**Boring/short chapter alert!**

**I'm beginning to understand why I wouldn't allow myself to write anything other than one-shots. I get demotivated way too easily and end up hating the story. Ah well, here is the next installment to the story. There should be one or two more parts after this one and I have no idea when I'll have it done. Motivation is such a fickle beast :(  
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Castle was psyched to say the least. It had been a few months since the incident at her apartment and although he was forced to stay at home and work for most of the time since, his latest masterpiece had been delivered to his door early that morning and was finally ready to be surrendered to Beckett. Writing had taken a lot longer than he anticipated which resulted in noticeably fewer trips to the precinct and a greater frequency of angry publicist calls than he would have liked.

Part of Castle was particularly eager to get her opinion on this latest book, but another smaller part of him was terrified that Beckett wouldn't approve of it at all. He wasn't worried about her regular protests about the outrageous titles or the naked lady cover art; these were just small details that she picked at to hide her interest in his books. He was worried about what she would think of the _content_. It was widely speculated that his latest series of novels were really an epic love letter in disguise and although he had denied it publicly, everyone who had at least half a brain functional knew otherwise. Everyone except Beckett that is. If she did know otherwise she was doing an excellent job pretending.

What would she _do_ to him when she finally figured that out? He shuddered and managed to squash that traitorous thought by reminding himself of the secret stash of his books in her apartment she'd been so keen on hiding from him. Beckett probably wouldn't be so keen on murdering the author of half the books in her collection. That discovery alone had given him enough motivation to press forward and work through the long months where he forced himself to remain cooped up in his office.

He missed going to the precinct. He missed helping on particularly grisly cases. He missed his frivolous conversations about sports and video games with Ryan and Esposito. He missed the adrenaline surges he felt from hiding his involvement in all the latest secret precinct betting pools. But not surprisingly, he missed being around her most of all. He missed the way her brow creased when she was thinking through a case. He missed the disapproving looks she gave him when he was being especially immature. He missed her smile. Not the patronizing ones she was forced to wear, but the rare genuine smile that he only had the privilege of seeing a handful of times. The same small part of him that feared her reaction to his book also wondered if she missed him as much as he missed her.

Luckily for him, those feelings would fade away now that Castle had finished this book and could resume his 'shadowing' of the lovely detective. Or at least that was what he hoped. There was no telling what Beckett's reaction would be at his sudden increased presence. What if she liked the peace and quite she experienced in his absence? She could just as easily kick him out of her life as she had done before. He needed to go to the precinct if he wanted to gauge her reaction.

Castle chose to wait until later that night to stop by the precinct, but by the time he arrived she was nowhere to be found. To his astonishment, the place was surprisingly quiet as most of the regulars were missing. Maybe they were out chasing down leads. He looked around for any sign of Ryan or Esposito, but jumped when he heard a female voice clearing her throat. It was Karpowski. Genius that he was, Castle had managed to block the entrance to the break room.

"They all went home on Montgomery's orders to get some rest" Karpowski said without preamble.

Great. Of all the days she actually decided to go home, it just had to be today didn't it? Despite the minor setback, he was glad to see that she was allowing herself to get some well deserved rest. After thanking Karpowski, Castle went over to Beckett's desk to drop of the package. As he was about to set it down, he caught a glimpse of Karpowski staring curiously from the break room and decided against leaving the package on her desk; it was too important to leave out in the open where curious officers could easily gain access to it. Plus, he wanted her to have the book today, so there was only one thing he could do to make sure she got it.

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Beckett had just settled herself into her bathtub for a long luxurious bath when her mind was rudely yanked out if its happy place by loud continuous banging on her door. Why _now_? She groaned as she tried to ignore the offending noise hoping it would eventually stop by itself. It just wasn't her day. Not only did the banging not stop, it got louder and more insistent. She was positively seething as she stood up and wrapped the nearest towel she could find around herself, heading to her bedroom to throw on some clothes. Just when she thought it couldn't get any more annoying, she heard a very familiar voice howling at her through the door in between bangs.

"Beckeeeeeett. Beckeeeeett. I know you're in there! I see lights on! Beckeeeeeett..."

She instantly decided shutting him up before the neighbors called the cops was far more important than looking presentable. She growled audibly as she sharply turned away from her bedroom and stormed to the living room where she flung open the door and threw her offending visitor one of her best death glares.

"_Jesus Christ_ Castle, are you _trying_ to break down my door again?"

"Hey! I..."

Beckett had answered the door in nothing but a bath towel.  
Wet.  
In a towel.  
Water dripping from her body.  
Wearing nothing but a towel.

Castle's brain was like a broken record, looping over the same details over and over again. His inability to finish his sentence reminded Beckett of her state of dress and rather than feel embarrassed, she felt somewhat amused. This wasn't the time to be amused though, as she felt a tiny portion of her anger at his chosen method of intrusion slowly seeping back into her.

"_Now_ what are you doing here?" Beckett drawled lazily. She tried to hold on to as much of her returning anger as possible, but found that she could only manage a scowl that barely served to partially hide the delight she had been fiercely suppressing upon seeing him for the first time in days. The drop off in the number of his visits hadn't gone unnoticed and although it was difficult for her to admit it to herself, she was beginning to miss him constantly bugging her while she worked.

The expression had a completely opposite effect on Castle. His confidence had been shattered when she'd thrown the door open and now her scowl had him questioning whether or not it was a good idea to come by at all. Especially considering what he'd disrupted. It was rare for him to be so cautious about anything but when it came to Kate Beckett, every move he made demanded caution. However, he had invested way too much time and had called in way too many favors for this project to give up that easily. This was something she needed to have, and he was going to make sure that she got it today.

Castle looked around wildly in a vain effort to concentrate on anything except what Beckett was currently wearing. Or in this situation, what she was _not_ wearing. His eyes finally found a spot in the living room and stayed there. She turned to follow his gaze to the stack of Derrick Storm novels sitting on her coffee table. The longer Castle kept away from the precinct, the more Beckett had found herself subconsciously spending more time with his books. She didn't bother re-shelving any of them since she knew she was just going to pull them out again later, and since her secret book obsession had been dragged into the light anyway she no longer made an effort to hide any of them.

"Castle..."

His brain decided that this was a good time to kick in again, the sight of his books on her table gave him the extra boost that he needed.

"I just wanted to drop this off for you, so here you go..." his eyes remained firmly on the package as he handed it to her, too nervous to look up at her. "Uhh... so sorry for intruding on your bath...and...uh... I'll see you tomorrow okay?" His courage cut out shortly after he handed the package to her as he scrambled for a quick exit.

"Wait, aren't you going to..."

He was already down the hall and stepping into the elevator. He did it. Now all that was left would be her reaction to the story.

* * *

Castle had been acting extremely strange for the past month or so and it was beginning to worry Beckett. His unscheduled visits to the precinct were becoming increasingly less frequent. Now that she thought about it, he only came when she'd called him about a case and his trips to her apartment had stopped abruptly. It was almost as if he had no time for them anymore, and the realization sent a wave of sadness through her mind. Was this the beginning of the end of their unorthodox partnership?

Beckett forced herself to shove the thoughts to the back of her mind as she ripped open the package and inspected its contents. It was the next Nikki Heat novel. At least that's what she had thought. Her fingers ran over the title as she read it silently to herself. _Phantom Heat_. He never even mentioned thinking about his next book let alone actually working on it. This looked like a retail version, it was hardback and complete with book jacket and cover art. This was not like the paperback copy of _Heat Wave_ she'd gotten when she bullied him into getting her an advanced copy. She felt a surge of betrayal at not having received an earlier version of the book. Was he trying to cut her out of the loop?

Wait. If the cover art for the novel was already done, shouldn't it have shown up on his website? She hadn't seen anything in her e-mail about it... not that she was waiting for it or anything. She scrutinized the cover and rolled her eyes. Yep, Nikki was naked on the cover again. Beckett was definitely going to get grief about it from everyone she knew when word got out. The only consolation for her was that Nikki wasn't in an overly compromising position this time. Her pose on this cover was actually a lot more conservative than she'd expected from him. Nikki didn't look overly dangerous or ooze as much sex appeal as she did on the previous covers; in fact, Beckett would say she looked almost distant, mysterious, maybe even... shy? If this was the new Nikki heat cover she hoped he wouldn't be too optimistic about future book sales.

Beckett moved past the cover and turned the book over to read the summary, trying to get a feel for the story. Going over the summary ended up generating more questions than it had answers and as she flipped through the first couple pages, she noticed the dedication was missing. What was the deal with this book? There were so many unanswered questions that flew through Beckett's mind. Why he never mentioned anything about the new book he was writing. Why he hadn't given her an advanced copy of the book. Why there hadn't been press releases of the cover art or magazine articles about it. Why his behavior had been so strange lately.

Beckett picked up her phone and was about to hit the speed dial for Castle's number when she finally understood what she was meant to do. All the answers were probably contained within the pages of the book. Setting her phone down, she suddenly remembered the bath she had forgotten she'd drawn. Castle always had impeccable timing. She made her way back to the bathroom, whipped off her towel and sunk into her now lukewarm bath, opening the book to the first chapter and letting her gaze sweep over the first few lines on the page.

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**TBC**

**There is a reason behind Castle's out of character-ness.  
Next chapter: Beckett reads between the lines.**


	3. You Were Not Asking Very Loudly

**You know****,**** every time I see a 'Alert'/'Review' notification in my inbox I feel obligated to write a bit more of the story, even if it's only a line or two. So sincere thanks to everyone for 'forcing' me crank it out!**

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It was the third day after Castle had relinquished _Phantom Heat_ and Beckett had yet to finish reading. Not that she didn't want to of course, but just like any other day cases were piling in faster than the precinct could solve them. It didn't help that Castle hadn't shown up to help since then and something told Beckett he wasn't about to either. Not until there was at least some indication that she had finished reading the book at any rate. By the end of the day, Beckett knew she could no longer put off reading any longer; especially if it meant their case clearance rate going down. She glanced at the clock. 4 PM. It was Friday and half of the station was gone anyways, so she took the liberty of excusing herself early for once.

Beckett cursed as she found herself struggling with her door again. Why was it _always_ this damn door? It had to be some sort of sick cosmic prank... she even half expected Castle to pop out and try to scare her. In a streak of ferocious desperation, she crammed her key into the slot and turned it violently. Success! Finally winning the day's battle, Beckett flung the door open and tossed her keys haphazardly onto the table, carelessly nudging the door closed with her foot before venturing into the kitchen to see what she could scrounge up for dinner. She scrunched her nose at the remnants of the once proud looking Styrofoam temple occupying her fridge. Anything that had been from the last few days had already been eaten and those that hadn't been were now covered in a fine layer of mold. She briefly considered making something quick to eat until she remembered she hadn't gone grocery shopping in the past two weeks. Takeout it was.

A few hours later, all the old moldy food in her fridge had been thrown out in favor of the half-eaten Italian takeout boxes that became the new foundations for her new Styrofoam temple. Onto more important things. If she was going to get through his book without reading too much into his words, she was going to need some wine. She still had the bottle that Castle had brought over previously that needed to be finished; that would do nicely. She poured a generous amount of it into her wine glass and made her way to her bed. No bath today. Something told her that reading the rest of the book would take more than a few hours, and she definitely didn't want to be all pruney for the rest of the night.

She flopped onto her soft bed and reached for _Phantom Heat _on the table next to it, flipping to the page she had bookmarked. She hadn't gotten far enough into the story to make any permanent judgments about the book yet, it started the way his Nikki Heat books normally did. Rook and Heat were in the middle of a case and they were following some especially promising leads into the wee hours of the night. Just before they called it a day, Rook had managed to upset Heat yet again which prompted her to again question why he was still following her. His article had been finished and published in that morning's paper and he no longer had a legitimate reason for sticking around. Heat had meant for the question to be rhetorical, but Rook had surprised her by spinning a story for her instead. As the book continued, it digressed more and more from the case that Rook and Heat were investigating and morphed into a story about how Rook and Heat met. Or more specifically, how Rook had strong-armed his way into Nikki's life.

The further Beckett got into the book, the more the realization set in. The book wasn't just another one of his stories written about her, it was a book written _for_ her. The names remained Nikki and Jameson, but it was beginning to become quite obvious that the story Castle was telling in the book drew even more parallels to their existing relationship (whatever that might be) than it had in his previous books. Beckett wasn't stupid. She was well aware of the fact that this story wasn't about Rook and Heat. It was about_ them_. The connections between real life and Nikki Heat's world were uncanny, and as she read on, Beckett began to understand what he was trying to tell her through his words.

Castle had known they'd met before, and he'd known it wasn't the first time he'd seen her either. He'd always known who she was, ever since the first time he'd laid eyes on her; and it wasn't even at the book signing where she waited hours to have him sign her book. No, he'd seen her for the first time when he was at one of the local bookstores shortly after the release of his third book. He was just a small-time author at the time and he had been, for lack of a better term, stalking his own book sales. Unfortunately, his mother's paranoia had rubbed off on him, so he'd gone to the nearest bookstore in a disguise consisting of the cliched sun glasses and baseball cap to 'casually' check out how his book was doing. Nope, he definitely wasn't suspicious looking in the least...

He'd spotted her at a bookshelf filled with his latest work. She wasn't hard to miss since she was the only woman there that wasn't squealing and shrieking over his book. She seemed quiet and reserved, content with retreating to a chair in a quiet corner after getting her hands on one of the copies of his book. He noticed she'd gotten a good seat too, it was one of those chairs made of wicker with a giant cushion for the seat. She was literally curled up in the chair with her back against one of the armrests and her knees brought up against the other, resting the book on her thighs and twirling her long hazel hair with one finger as she read quietly. He didn't think much of her at the time, he was always on the lookout for pretty women and although she was decidedly beautiful, he didn't think anything was likely to happen between them. He headed back home, satisfied with the results of his impromptu reconnaissance trip.

The second time he'd seen her was a year later shortly after his fifth book when he happened to pass by that same bookstore and spotted her through the window. It took him a while to make that connection and figure out why she looked so familiar. It wasn't that she was plain looking or forgettable, it was because he'd met so many women at the parties he went to the past few days he couldn't remember if she was one of them. Castle didn't hold on to his _Most Eligible Bachelor #7_ title for nothing.

Still, she didn't seem like the one-night-stand kind of girl... she was the quiet bookstore girl. That's where he knew her from. He looked up but she was no longer anywhere to be seen; she seemed to have been in a hurry and had left as quickly as she'd gone in.

The next day he found her sitting at an outdoor table in a cafe reading from his book with a bear claw in hand and a large cup of coffee on the table. He was tempted to go over and say something to her, but decided that scaring off fans with his stalker tendencies was not the way to go if he was to become a superstar author. Besides, Paula would most definitely going to skin him alive if he was late to any more of his 'important business meetings.' As if on cue, his phone suddenly burst out into loud shrill ringing. Speak of the devil. He needed to make a mental note to change the horrid ring tone on his phone at the first opportunity. Castle flipped open the phone and didn't wait for a greeting; "I'll be there soon" was all he said before he hung up and hurried onwards to Paula's office.

By the time he'd released his sixth book, he began secretly hoping he'd get another chance to see her again. To him, it wasn't about anything as serious as destiny or fate, it was simply about the thrill and the huge ego boost resulting from knowing that a fan was still a fan. He went to the store incognito at every opportunity and had been somewhat disappointed when she didn't show. If he didn't before he surely felt like a creeper now as left hurriedly when the bookstore staff were beginning to look at him funny. Now that he reflected on the experience, it might have helped if he had worn a different disguise each time he went.

He was pleasantly surprised when his publicist Gina had arranged for a book signing at that very bookstore and thrilled when the mysterious girl showed at his book signing. He really hadn't expected to see her standing in front of him holding his book out hiding behind a mask of calmness and asking him to sign. While all the other ladies had called him Richard, Rick, Ricky or some other variation of the previous; she'd remained respectful and had referred to him as Mr. Castle. Sure, it made him sound about ten years older than he actually was, but there was something sincere and genuine about the way that she had said it.

"Whom do I have the pleasure of making this out to?" He asked he flashed his best charming grin, hoping to coax a smile from the quiet girl in front of him.

"Kate Beckett." She replied with a weak laugh. Not exactly what he was hoping for, but he was willing to work with what he got.

"That's a lovely name. Is 'Kate' short for something?"

"Katherine."

Katherine Beckett, huh? _Interesting_. He tucked that piece of information away into a safe corner of his mind. He was curious as to just how big a fan she really was and was about to ask her if she subscribed to the mailing list, but as soon as he'd finished his message to her she was ushered away by the bookstore staff and replaced with one of his other hysterical fans.

There was something different about her, she was strangely _real_; more so than any of the women he was meeting lately in any case. Seeing her made him briefly think of Kyra. She wasn't some crazy teenage fangirl or a lonely middle-aged housewife. She had a life, places to be, things to do and her life didn't revolve around movie star stalking or party crashing. It was refreshing to say the least, having a level-headed fan like her in a sea of hormonal women. As corny as it sounded, somehow he'd felt something between them and something about her told him that they'd meet again.

Or not. That was the last time he'd seen her in years. He had been disappointed, but he'd assumed that she'd grown tired of his books and had moved on. And so he grudgingly moved on as well. He no longer had the luxury of wondering about her anymore as his popularity rose and his life became exponentially more hectic. His seventh book came out and was followed quickly by his eighth. His marriage with Gina came and went, much like his relationship with his first wife. He became engrossed in developing and promoting his new character Derrick Storm, culminating in a highly successful eight book series. He'd grown tired of Storm, killing him off in the series finale and inadvertently burying his own creative streak alongside his character. Writer's block didn't even begin to cover the slump he was going through. He was stuck in a rut.

He didn't expect to ever see her again so he was rightly stunned when she made her unorthodox appearance at the launch party for _Storm Fall_. One minute he was discussing the merits of having wildly inappropriate stories and the next he was spinning around to indulge a fan.

"Mr. Castle?" He didn't recognize her voice when she spoke so he assumed it was another one of his crazy fans asking for a chest autograph.

Only it had been _her_.

"Where would you like it?" The words tumbled out of his mouth before the flash of recognition had been processed by his brain. It was too late to save his image now, if only his mouth didn't run at twice the speed as his brain. Her brow creased and he could tell she was trying to hold back a frown. _Great_. He had successfully embarrassed himself in front of not only her, but his daughter as well. Unfortunately, Alexis didn't make the situation any better when she reached for his pen and shot him a witty remark; one which earned a brow raise from Kate. Ignoring his previous question and choosing not to comment on the odd display of reversal of authority, Beckett pressed on.

"Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions about..." The rest of her words were lost to him as his thoughts drowned out the droning of her scripted police talk.

The Kate that came to him that night was different from the Kate he had seen at the book store so many years ago. She was no longer shy and quiet, she'd become forceful and assertive. Her eyes were no longer soft and innocent, they were hard and cold; like she had seen too many things in her life. She was still respectful and referred to him as Mr. Castle, but the way she said it was more patronizing than it was genuine. He wasn't sure he liked the new Kate. What had happened to her to have her change in such a drastic manner? He decided in that instant that he had to know the answer.

He'd jumped at the opportunity when it came and practically banged down the door. They wanted _his_ help on a murder case. This was just too good to be true. He'd readily accepted of course, and even offered to go the extra mile by staying throughout the entire case. Winning her over would be easy. He'd give her his best charming smile and a witty one-liner and she would be more than happy to coordinate the investigation with him.

It would have been great if that had actually worked. He'd executed his plan flawlessly and was completely floored when it yielded almost no results. The cliched '_do you believe in fate?_' line probably wouldn't work on her either, she most likely didn't even know he still remembered her. He decided it was time for Plan B: to play it cool. If by cool he meant making a complete ass out of himself and coming off, as Montgomery said she referred to it, like a nine-year-old on a sugar rush. He rarely encountered women like Katherine Beckett, and when he did, it was obvious he wasn't quite sure how to successfully grab their attention.

He tried to make up for his behavior by attempting to show her his sensitive side by let her know how well he understood her. He saw his chance when they were going through the mountains of fan mail he received daily. However, halfway through his assessment, he saw her smile drop as he continued to read her like a book. As he continued on, he grew increasingly aware of his mistake and when he came to the tragic conclusion of his theory on why she became a cop, it was too late to take back what he said. The only thing he could do then was to trail off in volume and in certainty. She'd called it a cute trick, but he mentally kicked himself when he saw that she was just masking the hurt she felt when he forced her to relive a dark moment in her life.

Sensing that his psychic act was upsetting her, Castle reverted back to his man-child persona. She seemed more comfortable with that one, rising to his challenges and deflating his ego at her leisure. He usually found it incredibly annoying when other women tried to talk down on him, and much like the child that he was, he ended up screwing with their mind by deliberately doing the opposite. But surprisingly, he was okay with it when she did that and was even careful not to take it too far. Maybe it was the way that she did it. She wasn't trying to be condescending or naggy on purpose, half the time she was just trying to get him out of her hair. The other half was spent indulging his ego by accidentally (or deliberately... he couldn't tell which) stepping into the verbal traps he meticulously laid out for her.

He was supremely disappointed when they took a young man (a boy really) into custody for the murders. This was surely the last time he'd ever see her again; that was, until he figured out that the boy was innocent. He leapt at that fact, nearly shoving the details in her face in a frantic attempt at trying to get her to understand that the case wasn't finished. She would have none of it. So, being the juvenile that he was, he resorted to stealing her case files. It worked out well for the most part. He even managed to sneak in a kiss on the cheek and was rewarded with a very flustered detective. She was livid as she stormed through the double doors of the room he was researching in and arrested him, but it had gotten the job done. She was finally considering the possibility the real killer was on the loose. It was then that he realized that it wasn't enough. The mix of crime, mystery, and Kate had been more alluring than he previously anticipated and he had to find a way to have more of it.

He came up with the brilliant idea during a routine game of poker with his Gotham City crew. Bob was a huge fan and he needed any good press he could get his hands on and Castle planned to milk it for all it was worth. He was beginning to formulate devious plans to unravel the mystery behind the illusive homicide detective. The reason he gave Bob and Captain Montgomery for shadowing her hadn't been a complete lie, she really did help him get over his writer's block.

Because honestly, what kind of creep would follow someone everywhere they went after only knowing them for a few days? _Him_. That's what he knew she'd thought of him anyways. As soon as he'd gotten involved in the case and she learned a new side of him, she'd chalked it up to his man-boy disposition and he hadn't made any effort to try to correct her. It was far easier for her to believe that he was just there to annoy. Plus, if she knew the truth he'd probably come off like some kind of pervert stalker and scare her away forever.

The rest of the book continued with more details about the conclusion of that first case and the beginning of their current partnership, but Beckett had seen all that she'd needed to. She'd gotten the message. He wanted her to know about this, wanted to prove to her than it hadn't been Ryan and Esposito that had ratted her. Sure, they might have mentioned something about her being a huge fan, but it wasn't anything that he didn't know already. She really was important to him. And so he'd put it in _Phantom Heat_ and made it a story about the side of Jameson Rook and Nikki Heat that the readers didn't have the privilege of knowing about. Until now.

Something within her brain snapped as Beckett decided she could no longer bear reading the rest of the story and slammed it shut. She was frustrated. Frustrated with him. Frustrated with herself. The book revealed a whole new dimension of Castle that she'd neglected to notice, and it scared her. This Castle was not the rock star writer she'd imagined before she met him, nor was he happy-go-lucky man with the preschooler disposition she had gotten to know the more she worked with him. This was serious. He was being serious. This new development was terrifying. The tiny part of her brain that had always known he'd been serious about her crowed triumphantly against her weak mental protests. _So now what?_ The problem now was what to do with this new nugget of information.

She made an exasperated noise as she fell onto her bed and tried to mentally swat the implications of _Phantom Heat_ away from her jumbled mind. She needed Castle to clarify things about the book, and even moreso about what it meant for their relationship. But that would need to wait until tomorrow. She was too physically and mentally exhausted to deal with this right now. Thankfully, the wine she had earlier was enough to help drown out the internal war raging in her brain and lull her into fitful sleep.

* * *

**TBC**  
**  
Congratulations to Beckett NYPD and frozenfiery for guessing the story line. Well, I bet it was completely obvious... I need to stop writing about such obvious things. Obviousness sure is boring.**

**Anyways, not entirely sure where this story is going... As always, please let me know what you think!**


	4. Off the Grid

**Wow. I had this story roughed out ****like within a week of the previous chapter****, but kept putting off refining it. Felt kinda lousy today**** (this entire week actually)**** so**** digging this out and**** fixing it cheered me up a little. I would have liked to work on it some more, but I think you all would rather have a rough ending than no ending at all ;)**

* * *

It was one of those mornings for Beckett. The ones where your brain wakes up much earlier than the rest of your body and you have no choice but to lay in bed for an hour and fail miserably at any attempt at extra rest. The ones where your brain forces you to stew over any outstanding issues it has with your current life and holds your sanity hostage until you give in and force yourself to come up with working solutions.

Her brain had started working well before the rest of Beckett had a chance to catch up. It was barely 6 AM, and already all her problems from the previous night had begun to relentlessly assault her mind all at once. What was she going to do once she finished reading the book? What would he expect her to do? Why was he doing this to her? Most of all... Had the media's prying eyes already gotten access to the book?

The fear she'd harbored since Castle first announced she had become her new muse surged over her, drowning out all other thoughts that had occupied her mental processes. Was this really the next book he planned on releasing? Paparazzi and press commenting book art and speculating about the relationship between characters was one thing, but if he published this story she didn't think she could survive the massive breach of privacy and the consequent response from the tabloids once news broke out about the contents of _Phantom Heat_.

Beckett, as smart as she was, was aware of their attraction early on, but had decided deal with the situation by opting for feigned naivety. Something she would have gotten away with if it weren't for Lanie nearly shoving her onto the hard cold metal of an empty autopsy table one night after work and attempting to harass her until she fessed up. However, no matter how hard Lanie poked and prodded, Beckett continued to stubbornly refuse to acknowledge any kind of non-professional relationship with Castle. Lanie was beginning to seriously consider shoving them both in a dark closet and throwing away the key.

However, Lanie's third degree did not go unwasted. Ever since that talk, try as she might, Beckett couldn't toss out the fantasy of having a romantic relationship with Castle. Quite the opposite, she found herself revisiting it the most inopportune times. It happened so often that she'd even briefly considered reevaluating their current relationship more seriously, but in the end she could never allow herself to fully accept him nor the books for what everyone kept reminding her they were.

She groaned and pulled the covers over her head. Thank God it was Saturday and she wasn't expected to be on call. Maybe the darkness brought on my her blanket would fool her brain into letting her go back to sleep.

It didn't work. It never did. However, the cloud of questions in her brain ebbed away and left her alone with one haunting question.

What did she want from him?

* * *

She was going to go see him as soon as she'd finished the last page of the book. At least, that's what she told herself. In reality, she'd finished the book sometime in the morning. Now it was five o' clock and she couldn't bring herself to go to him, not when her mind was so cluttered; she wasn't absolutely sure she was ready to hear the answers she was almost positive he would give her.

Somewhere during the sporadic mental debates she was having with herself, she found herself standing outside his door. She wasn't quite sure when she made the decision to come see him, or even how she managed to make her way over here; but now that she had knocked on the door, there was no going back now.

It was as if he was expecting her. The door flung open almost as soon as her knuckles made contact with the wooden door. The first thing he did after opening the door was look down at her hands. Sure enough, she was holding _Phantom Heat_. Her face was void of any emotion, making it hard for him to judge whether he should be screaming bloody murder as he ran down the hall. She was probably going to give him all kinds of hell for exposing something so intimate in such a public medium.

Unsure of what to say, he settled for inviting her in; if she was going to yell at him he'd rather it be away from prying eyes. He gestured towards the couch, but she shook her head. Not a good sign for him. He decided the only thing he could really do in this situation was to steel himself from the inevitable onslaught of criticisms and take it like a man. Taking a deep breath, he put on a cheerful face and proceeded to greet her.

"Detective-"

"Castle. What did you-"

"I know what you're thinking. It's the only copy. You've got the first and the last edition _ever_." Relief flooded through her body as she felt some of the knots in her stomach undo themselves. He paused as he considered something. "I mean I have a digital copy of course... and you should know that I asked Alexis to read parts of it as well. I needed her opinion on some of the concepts and proofreading, and well... Paula kind of knew about it too. I didn't let her read it though. But she found out about it because there was this call and-" She covered his mouth with the palm of her hand in an attempt to stop his babbling and get him to pay attention to what she was about to say. As his muffled protests subsided, she removed her hand. It proved to be a mistake. As soon as he was satisfied that she was no longer furious at him, he decided to prattle on.

"I had to pull a whole_ mess_ of strings to get it done. I mean, I couldn't let Gina know you know? She'd never let me hear the end of it... as you probably know. I can just see her nagging away at me as we speak. Richard, I can hardly get you to finish writing one book! Richard, when are you going to stop fooling around and deliver to the publishers? Richard this, Richard that. Writing two books at once is hard! Don't even get me started on the train wreck involved with publishing just one single copy of the book." 

_God. Would he ever shut up?_ "Castle..."

"Do you know how much grief they gave me? Bob down at the place where they actually print the books was droning on and on about expenses and materials and time and blah blah blah." Beckett sent him a look that clearly conveyed he was doing the same thing as Bob but Castle took no notice.

For a moment, she was seriously considering shoving the muffin he was holding into his mouth, but somehow she felt it was rude of her, as a guest, to be doing that to him, her host. She definitely wouldn't have given it another thought if they were anywhere else.

Well, since nothing else seemed to be working...

"I told him I'd cover any expenses but that just got him started on protocols and procedures and he went on and on and on... Do you know how many phone calls I had to-MMRPH."

He never saw it coming. One minute he was rambling like an idiot (something he found himself doing a lot when around Beckett) and the next his mouth was muffled by something soft and warm.

"Uhm...Thanksforthebook." she mumbled as she pulled away quickly.

"This is the most thoughtful gift I've ever received." She tried to clarify when she heard no response from Castle. What was she thinking? These kinds of things were only something that you see on tv. But if she was a little more honest with herself, she might have admitted that she'd always wanted to try that out on him. Especially when he ran his mouth like the way he'd been doing recently. She laughed softly at the mental image, earning her a confused stare from Castle.

"Is that the only way I'll ever get you to shut up?"

"Just about." He found his voice in time to say, suddenly looked extremely pensive. "Although, if you-"

"I don't even want to know what's going to come out of your mouth next.." She interrupted.

"But-"

"No."

"Not even-"

"No."

She decided now was a great time to attempt to distract him from what she'd just done. She held up the book again and asked, "You won't be mass distributing this will you?"

"What? And ruin my tough bad boy cred?" Beckett snorted as Castle pretended to look appalled at the idea. "That's the same as committing career suicide! I mean, do you _know_ how long I had to work at building my reputation? No one will ever read another one of my books again! Well except lonely divorced women and..."

She gave him a skeptical look.

He flailed his arms around dramatically.

"_Yes_, I needed to work at it. Quite a lot thank you very much. I mean if mother found out about it..."

"Ah, so good blackmail material then."

"You wouldn't..."

By the look of horror on his face, clearly that wasn't something he'd ever considered. Gift or not, in that brief moment he was rethinking his decision to present Beckett with what was literally the power to destroy the reputation he'd spent years building.

"Oh Castle, such an easy target..."

She smiled at him and he stared at her until they burst out laughing. As the laughter subsided and silence cut in, she tried to find the words she wanted to use to define the real purpose of her visit. Since he'd shared something so personal, she felt that it was time for her to as well. She'd been reluctant at first, but as she lay in her bed that morning she began to realize that she wasn't herself when she was around him and that she was beginning to warm up to that idea. Suddenly she realized that she was no longer afraid of sharing her past with him.

"My mother..." Castle looked up immediately. Anything that started with 'my mother' with her was a signal that she was about to share something extremely personal. He perked up instantly relishing in the fact that she was willing to share so many details of her life with him.

She spent the next half hour telling him about the impact of her mother's death on their family while he listened intently. She told him how her father had lost himself to the alcohol and how she had lost herself within the pages of his books. She told him about how she barely even went outside during that time, how one of her good friends went to the bookstore every time a new Castle book was published, and how the same friend had tried to coax her out of her house with promises of new Castle novels. After many months, the ploy had finally worked and Kate ventured out long enough to sit at a cafe and attempt feeble conversation. It had gotten easier from then on, as she resolved to start to pull her life back together again. She finished by telling him how she even joined the police force where she swore to find her mother's killer no matter what the cost.

Castle was in awe at the volume of the information that she divulged to him. He didn't know exactly what to say after such a huge admission. He felt a sudden rush of emotion as he leaned over to wrap his arms around her. She was surprised at first and pulled back a little, but she quickly let herself relax into him as she realized how good it had felt.

"Thank you so much for telling me."

He reluctantly pulled away as they lapsed into an awkward silence again. This time, it was Beckett that broke the ice.

"So..." She began.

"So?" He asked tentatively.

She held _Phantom Heat_ out to him and grinned. "Mr. Castle, Will you sign this for me?"

His face lit up immediately and decided to play along. Taking the book from her outstretched hand, he opened it carefully and was delighted to find a book sticker that read 'From the library of Katherine Beckett' stuck carefully on the inside cover. Not wanting to fall out of character, he recovered quickly by grabbing a pen off the table and presenting it with a flourish.

"Whom do I have the pleasure of making this out to?"

Beckett played her part well. "How about... your number one fan?"

His eyebrows rose. "_OH_, then you're going to have competition."

She rolled her eyes. "I forgot about your legions of psychotic fan girls."

He mimicked her eye roll to the best of his ability. "I was referring to Alexis."

She pretended to contemplate the idea before she shrugged. "Nah, I'll be nice and let her have it."

His face lit up as he uncapped the fountain pen and proceeded to write his message on the inside cover, reading out loud as he wrote. "To my _sexiest_ fan in the world..."

She scoffed at him and was preparing a snarky comeback until it dawned on her that he might actually go through with it. He kept writing as she continued to weigh the chance of the comment appearing in her book. Ultimately reaching the conclusion that Richard Castle was probably not above writing something suggestive, she snatched the book from him just as soon as he finished signing his name.

"Hey!"

Her eyes scanned frantically over the cover. She did _not_ want a message like that immortalized on the inside cover of the only copy of _Phantom Heat_ ever published. To her relief, the results of her quick once over revealed no indication of any inappropriate remarks.

_To my favorite partner in crime, KB:_

_Thank you so much for believing in me  
...and secretly hoarding every book I've ever written._

_From your number one fan, RC_

She looked up and made a face while playfully smacking him in the arm for misleading her, and for implying she was some kind of Castle pack rat. Her face quickly softened into a more serious expression.

"Thank you." It was a loaded sentiment and they both knew it. Not only was she grateful for the story he shared through the book, she was grateful that he respected her enough to keep their story private. She was grateful for the way he made her laugh, grateful for the way he made her work more interesting, for the way he listened when she told him about her mother, grateful for his friendship. He looked her in the eye and took her hand in his squeezing gently; a sign that he'd understood the full meaning behind her words.

"Anything for you Kate."

She smiled at him, letting him catch a glimpse of the shy, quiet, genuine girl he'd seen in the bookstore so many years ago and he knew that all the effort he had put into the gift had paid for itself ten times over.

"So about your motives behind shutting me up..." She could this coming from a mile away. "I think you were just doing it because you secretly wa-"

And there it was. To hell with courtesy. She swiftly shoved her hand into his face, forcing him to stumble back as she took the opportunity to make her escape out the door.

"Goodbye Mr. Castle." She said threw him a challenging smirk from over her shoulder as she practically shut the door in his face on the way out.

* * *

A few months later, Kate opened the door to her apartment to collect her morning paper. She casually flipped through it as she made her way over to her kitchen counter and stopped when one of the articles on a page caught her eye; _Mysterious Missing Novel has Fans in a Frenzy_. She couldn't help but smile. Rick (_yes_ Rick) had let it slip when he was rambling on continuously on one of his talk show appearances. They were discussing the release of _Heat Wave_ the motion picture and he was asked to talk briefly about the books he had written thus far. She wasn't sure if he had said it intentionally or not, but she was glad when he had refused to go into any of the details when prodded by the host.

She put the paper down on her coffee table and reached for_ Phantom Heat_. Despite the fact that she'd read it over and over for the past month or so, she made sure that it was still in near mint condition. She opened to the inside cover as she glanced over his message to her for the millionth time, allowing her mind to drift pleasantly to thoughts of Castle.

Even though they had reached a breakthrough in their relationship (and even shared a _'non-romantic'_ kiss,) neither of them had made any further attempts at defining their relationship. They had fallen easily into referring to each other on a first name basis, much to the amusement of their mutual friends. Even though he had admitted to liking her a long time ago, he was quite content with where they were now. It had taken a long time for her to admit to herself that she actually enjoyed kissing him, even if it was solely to put an end to his incessant gibberish. She still didn't quite know what she wanted him, but she knew that they were comfortable around each other, and it was something that she relished above all else.

Someday soon.

All she knew now was that it was a bright Saturday morning, and she had an invitation from a certain someone for a 'pancake smorgasbord' at the loft at 9 AM sharp. Glancing at the clock, she carefully slid the book she was holding back into its slot on her bookshelf, her eyes lingering on title on its spine.

She loved the idea of being the only one in the world who would ever own the _complete_ Nikki Heat series.

* * *

**END**

**Thanks to anyone who saw this through to the end. I really need to go back to one shots. I have at least two more ideas in my head, but seeing how late this last chapter was, it's probably safe to say that this will be it for me at least the premiere of season 3. Or maybe if there were some new Caskett stories from all you lovely writers...**


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